And the beat goes on.....

August 2012 and it has almost been 1 whole year for me since my life changed again forever!  Dontcha wonder how many times we have to change directions in this place we call our home?  As many as it takes I guess :)  

I had another 3 month check up this last week and all is well still.  The doctors only seemed a little concerned when I mentioned that I had a horrible migraine the day before.  I had to get meds for it because it was pretty unbearable.  The docs said that they would let this one headache slide but if I get another one, I am to let them know immediately and they will do a brain scan. bleh....

I had decided about a month or so ago that I did not feel that the Lord had gotten me through the hell of last year so that I live my life only half assed....I really have had an interesting time with getting used to my new body. Not only because my clothes fit weird but that 'something' is just not right!  I was floundering and no one seemed to understand.  Of course I had not said anything to anyone but am certain that those close to me noticed that I was beginning to resemble the hunch back of Notre Dame.  I finally got tired of the pain in my shoulders and upper back and went to a massage therapist.  She in turn recommended a gait analyst.  I cannot tell you how empowered ( sorry to use this much over used word) I felt when I came out of my meeting with her.  I felt like finally I was taking control of my other wise out of control circumstances.  She told me that my posture is poor and that my body has been through a trauma that I have been minimizing by not exercising it.  Those are my words but basically, my posture sucks and I need to exercise my poor old body that feels like it has been through so much already.  I told her that I would rather take a brutal and bloody beating before I exercise because I was picturing jumping jacks and sit ups and push ups and on and on.....but OH NO not this one....sly cute fox.... she has me doing pilates to strengthen my core muscles! Owch!  Our last session she said " you won't like me very much tomorrow"...I am beginning to feel stronger and I feel oddly peaceful but on the flip side a little crazy.

Which brings me to the emotional side of this journey.  I heard a song on K-LOVE the other day which described me exactly! " When I get locked inside my head you call my name and set me free!"  I don't know the name of it but the words really ministered to me and I realized that I have been locked inside my head and have been basically depressed.  My group calls it 'chemo brain' but if that were the case, some of you reading this could not relate and I know that almost everyone of you can totally understand what I have just said.  

Some days I feel so peaceful and full of love and on the very same day I can nose dive and feel like there is no hope for me.  ARRRGH!  I am woman hear me roar!!!  Except now I roar because I am a flaming lunatic! HA!  Thank goodness it passes as quickly as it comes on.  I can usually( in fact almost always) keep my 'mental condition' under wraps and no one notices - but you should see it from my side! Yikes, scarey!  

We had to put our beloved Lupe dog down a couple of weeks ago and I thought I might lose all control  but by the grace of God we all made it through that gut wrenching day.  Good bye little friend, see you someday soon.  The vet that came to our home and her assistant were amazing.  Our whole family- near and far- was in mourning  that day.  

So much seems to have happened this last month and I can't remember exactly what.  
Last week end my sister's son got married and it was a great time!  I wore a cute dress and no one seemed to notice that I had no boobs.  I have also realized that people really do not notice things like that.  Now that I have hair , I look just like everyone else :)

Daily reminder to me is that everything is out of my control.  Mind my own business and that God is the only One in control of all of this!  But God, what about .....and what about.....surely you don't mean.....! 

Just for today....
I choose to rest from worries.  Amen!

July is here already!

Amazing how fast our lives get back to the way they were before THE crisis.  My breasts are just a memory and all that is left are two huge scars on my chest to remind me that I really did have boobs!  My clothes  fit totally differently and I don't think that anyone notices that I am flat chested except for the odd little pooch that my sternum makes under my blouses.  People ask me how I am and I say 'great'!  If  I'm not so great, I say 'good' but I put a phoney lilt in the way that I say it.  (Some things will never change)

I have continued going to the 'Our Journey' group and am enjoying it.  I have also started going to a meditation group and have found it to be one of the hardest things that I have ever tried to do.  I was a little leery of it at first because I am uncomfortable with 'woo woo' stuff but this is not like that at all.  I did not know how to quiet my mind and just focus on my breathing.  My mind races everywhere!  I finally got the hang of it and it is indeed quite relaxing. 

I have been staying very busy with all of the 'stuff' that I do but when I hit a wall, I sit down and rest....feels good.

I am working on letting others live their lives and live my own in peace and joy.  I find that nearly impossible especially when a loved one is suffering from their own issues. My friends and family mean everything to me and I forget that what they are going through is their own story or as I heard once...their own journey back to the Lord.  I feel a survivor guilt type of feeling when my life is on an even path and others are suffering.

For now, the biggy for me is keeping my thoughts as positive as I can and keeping my distance from negative people (and they are everywhere). 

I had blogged yesterday but when I saved it, it went "out there" somewhere.

I have had my 3 and 6 month check ups and they have been AOK!  God is good!
I have neuropathy in my feet and sometimes in my hands and little aches and pains here and there but hey...I'm alive ;) 
 Going to church and then dig in my flower beds and see what this day brings.  This is the day that the Lord has made, I WILL rejoice and be glad in it!

Spring time in my life

I have been pressing buttons on this blog-a-ma-jig...can you tell?
HA!  let me see what did I do...
I  have been working in my yard for as long as my strength lasts (which is not nearly as long as I would like but I will take what ever I can get.  I love how I come inside exhausted from bending over and pulling weeds.  Although I can't use my left arm for much, my right one is a worthy adversary for the weeds that grew during last years sabbatical.  I have raked and raked and get a nice little pile of weeds ready for the big black bag and from out of nowhere a little blonde 2 1/2  year old comes plowing through them!  It seems to be Logan's calling in life to jump in the middle of my neat piles of dry leaves.  Julianna found a really old hammer buried in the dirt and she is hammering a tree stump :)
Some men from the electric company came by to trim our trees that may or may not be in their lines.  They asked us if we needed any other trees trimmed and Mark asked them to cut down an old tree that had been struck by lightning once and has  never been the same...he said sure we can do that!  Then Mark asked if they could cut down the pesky cottonwood that produces 'bushels' of cotton in the late spring and early summer as well as 'millions' of aphids that drop aphid juice all over the yard and anything or anyone that is under it.  'Yes, that is no problem" said the friendly tree trimmer.  Mark asked that thy leave the willow tree next to the cottonwood because it is healthy and quite lovely.   Well.........I went out to check on the work they had done and the old lightning struck tree was gone...nice.   BUT the willow tree that was just coming into it's own after years of struggling was gone...poof!  AND....the cottonwood tree is standing tall and proud and singing praises to the Lord for sparing it again!  GRRRRR.  Surely there is something that I can spray on it so that it does not produce cotton!  Help!
 No biggie.  I am alive and I am able to work in my yard and I feel good.  My grand children will be able to once again run and play in my yard as I dig in the dirt.  I now have to wear a hat and wear this arm thingy, plus wear gloves always so that I don't get a scratch or cut and risk infection on that lymphless arm.   Actually I only had 13 taken out and I think we have alot more than that but I guess it is still not good to get an infection.
Mark and I spent a few days in Lewistown with Dana and Summer and Autumn and Dominic a few weeks ago.  It was very enjoyable to watch how Dommie LOVED to be with his Papa.  No one else existed when Mark would walk in.  Summer, Autumn and I worked outside while they watched tv.  I do love that they are only a short drive away from us.  
My Lupe and Bella love when I go outside as well.  It must seem to them like I abandoned them last year.  My faithful little mutts.
Life is good.
I am grateful and have much work to do.  But first I think I will rest, all of a sudden I am tired.
Logan and Jonah both have croup and since Whit and Ryan were going to take them to the circus, Mark and I are taking Julianna to it tonight.  She is spending the day and the night, maybe the weekend with us because the docs said to keep the sick ones away from the healthy ones. She and her PaPa are napping right now.  
Yes, life is truly good.
 

and the beat goes on

Almost a month and no blogging....getting complacent?  I guess I think that I am done writing because I am finished with last year.   However, the evidence that my body has been through quite a battle is very apparent.  Not just the scars that have replaced my breasts, but my aching joints from the anti hormone drug that I am on and NOW, my eyelashes are falling out again!  I am down to about 5 on one eyelid and maybe 6 or if I am really counting, maybe 7 on the other.  My friend that went through the same thing a few months before me had just told me a few weeks ago that her eyelashes were falling out again and I wondered if that would happen to me as well....well, wonder no more....chicken eye lids!

If you were tracking me, you would notice that my foot prints have been very zig zaggy for the last month or so.  I have been the great wanderer trying to find my right niche again.  I have not really been trying very hard to fit in any where but I was feeling a little confused and sort of lost there for a while.  

I have started spending my first waking moments in prayer and asking God for guidance for the day.  After prayer, I read a psalm and do a study on what I have read.  It seems to have brought my focus back to my first love, God, and taken it off of the almighty ME.  It feels right.  I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me.

Every day seems to bring me a little bit more of emotional strength and mental clarity.  I have a tendency to isolate because I don't want to reveal anything to anyone that they may use against me at a later date ....just as I am typing this I realize that paranoia has been my close companion for a little while as well.   Geez, talk about a looney tune! 

As I write this, I know that I can now say, " Last year was a very scarey time for me ".  I know that I was not alone but you know what I am saying...Little Miss Much Afraid...that was me. 
I can now say that I made it and it was ALL because of prayers and God's mercy.

So moving right along- Mark and I have been busy with little finishing touches on our little pad.  I feel alive again with anticipation of the future. I am not 100% yet but it feels so good to be alive and feel like doing something around here.  Mark and I do our 'busy' work around our nap schedules so it is slow but our home will be finished soon.  Then it is time to work on the patio....

Thank you Lord for my life.